Health eVillages celebrates one year of delivering mobile health info

Health eVillages, a program that delivers healthcare information via mobile technology to healthcare providers around the world, celebrates its one-year anniversary. It was founded in partnership with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and Physicians Interactive and formally launched at the 2011 Health 2.0 Conference.

At the 2012 Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on Oct. 9, Health eVillages founder Donato Tramuto shared milestones achieved over the past year during a special lunchtime presentation.

"It's been an amazing first year, but there's still a lot of work to be done to improve the healthcare delivery system in remote and under-resourced hospitals and clinics around the world," said Tramuto. "As we reflect on the work to date and look ahead to what can and will be accomplished, one thing is abundantly clear: the power of technology to improve healthcare is real, and we look forward to building on our progress thus far to reach new heights in our second year."

A donation and phone drive encouraged conference attendees to make donations in the form of money or used mobile devices, which will be repurposed for healthcare professionals in underserved areas. Each donated device will be wiped lcean and loaded with Health eVillages resources, powered by the Skyscape Medical Resources app.

Health eVillages has made critical improvements to patient care in six pilot locations including Kijabe, Kenya; Lwala, Kenya; Uganda; China; Haiti and rural Louisiana. In 2012, more than half of all healthcare providers at the pilot sites used the Health eVillages mobile devices many times each day to reference critical healthcare information such as dosages, drug interactions and treatment protocols. The mobile devices also allow providers to train and educate medical staff on various procedures. More than 100 providers have been presented with a Health eVillages device since the program’s launch.